Is MacKeeper a scam?

[picunurse]

Their advertizing is very invasive. Even if it isn’t, I’d never click on an ad that tries to take over my computer!

[AHunter3]

Same here. Having a %#@! popup tell me to “please consider cleaning my Mac from junk” that I have to click "OK to dismiss doesn’t incline me to want their damn product.

I think at best it’s an irrelevant-file cleanup and deletion utility. Discarding an .app file can leave behind .plist and prefs files that don’t do any damage, but take up (miniscule amounts of) HD space and I suspect that’s what they’re calling “Junk”.

[Kenm]

A Mac site has a long review of it here. The conclusion begins:

MacKeeper is an interesting application but not because of its functionality. Instead, much of the hype and dislike appears to be based on a reputation that lingers in a Mac using community that prides itself on effective and functional design. The reputation that MacKeeper carries with it is one that suggests that not only is it not effective or functional but that it is also parasitic in nature. Contrary to the latter, I didn’t find it to be obtrusive or overly dominating. However, in relation to the functionality and effectiveness, MacKeeper is utterly useless amidst a whole collection of free and reputable tools that do the job just as well if not better. . . .

I don’t see any point to it.

[BigT]

It’s not just a Mac thing. Any PC app that advertizes that way is extremely suspicious. I’ve yet to encounter a single one that isn’t malware. You download it and install it, and it will randomly pop up saying that you are infected and that you need to pay to get it removed. They will also deliberately slow down your computer and possibly even make it very hard to work around any of the previously mentioned popups. And they make themselves quite difficult to uninstall, often actually including actual viruses themselves that can replicate and thus keep you from removing the program.

I do not know why any legitimate company would advertize this way.